Opinion: Why President Obama Can’t Pull a Clinton

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... after forty years the gross ... profits and stock prices everywhere the eye ... those of the top have never done better ... the average wages have barely budged ... the quality is good ... the only stall ... the call the fact is that ... the men in the midst of our covered too many Americans are working more than ever just to get my little long to get ahead ... and too many ... still our work at all ... so ... our job ... is to reverse these trends ... welcome to Opinion Journal I'm Mary Kissel ... the Obama is not satisfied with the state of our union ... and neither are most Americans so what is the can and do about it ... I've got Wonderland Columnist and Henninger joining me now ... I ... did this piece or even physically admit failure unease and five years to fix some of the things you just mentioned here inequality ... upward mobility ... Whelan plausibly perhaps I don't have firm going to catch Brock Obama admitting failure ... but let's put this beach in the political context in which it was delivered which is to say ... he presides over presidency that is almost a spent force coming is very much on the bubble with approval ratings have dropped into low forties ... of the Wall Street Journal poll this week said sixty three percent ... don't ... trust his ability to make decisions any never got a slide on that seventy four percent still feel like the countries in recession so Fox News said last week so that's a pretty ... story state of affairs he needs something they should first out of this ... probably work three things available for him that he needs to do ... he could get him ... to raise the economy the chip maker tax reform bill to do free trade legislation ... and he could do immigration reform ... problem as all three require partnership with the opposition in Congress ... and he made clear in that speech that he not only is doesn't like to do that ... he's incapable of Boeing but but but why does and what about this president makes incapable of pulling a Bill Clinton going so ... well I think a lot of those do with his lack of political skills he's not a people person he'd rather go what the law ... and ... it turns out the speech that was his plan B he said if I can work with Congress ... I will take actions on my own to raise the economy ... unfortunately most of what he's going to do are kind of secondary level things that can't answer the problems that people are talking about ... raising the minimum wage is not going to do that ... the December on jobs report said that three hundred forty three thousand people had dropped out of looking for jobs ... the things he's proposing are not going to help much with those kinds of problem let's talk briefly about these has pledged to do executive orders executive action ... some commentators have said look back just be overturned by the next president but what it tells the regulators ... don't need new rules of the road for business that sprouted in this in the op Mary I think this side of the speech is being underestimated by most commentators they think it's a cube orders can be overturned well yes but that the things the president the next president would have to do that ... on the regulatory side ... he's got the Environmental Protection Agency Department of Labor the Department justice in the new consumer protection girl ... at his beckon call they all have the power to issue new regulations or even guidance which by and large industries complied with once the board has been put on ... that sort of thing is very difficult to overturn Wednesday's regulations become imbedded ... think Brock Obama has in his mind away to rearrange the relationship between the federal government and the private sector ... and the regulatory rules I think is the one he's really going to be taken Saga submarine run site ... that run deep the dead about ... ten seconds left ... is a bad thing if he's a lame duck president with all the damaged in the first term ... to the economy three years has a long time to be laid off United States most of all beastly your show right now and we have no leadership or three years and you beat that forced domestically and internationally ... and Wonderland Columnist and Henninger thank so much